


Changes

by run_sure_footed



Series: Mod Froglets [4]
Category: Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts (Cartoon)
Genre: Body Changes, Bonding, Comfort, Fear of Illness, health scare, low survival rate for Froglets, mention of Froglet death being typical
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-15
Updated: 2021-01-15
Packaged: 2021-03-13 15:27:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28780488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/run_sure_footed/pseuds/run_sure_footed
Summary: H's eyes begin changing colours. But when there are no other Froglets that looks like him, how can he know if this is normal?
Series: Mod Froglets [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2061339
Comments: 3
Kudos: 11





	Changes

**Author's Note:**

> Again, as before, Froglets have letter names until they're older, so Jamack is J and Harris is H.
> 
> During metamorphosis Tadpoles are deaf while their tympanum are developing. Before Tadpoles can speak but during/after they've grown limbs, they use a simple sign language to communicate underwater (and the language involves the tail, so adult Frogs can't use it)

H had always looked different from the others, even as a Tadpole. He was too skinny, too small, too yellow. He couldn’t swim now that he was a Froglet. These were all differences he could more-or-less overcome with a combination of raw determination and, now that he was old enough, clothes.

While the other Froglets practiced swimming, he was expected to sit on a lily pad and watch them. Rebelliously, he changed the focus of his eyes so he could look at his own reflection. He sighed. He still looked the same.

No. No, that wasn’t entirely true. The outermost edges of his eyes were...red. Was he sick? Was he dying?

He knew he couldn’t ask any of the adult Frogs. He knew that most of the Froglets from his year weren't expected to survive to adulthood. If he pointed out yet _another_ way he was different, he knew they would certainly look the other way if something happened to him—or simply quietly finish him off themselves.

No, there was only one person he could trust with this information.

He waited until J hauled himself out of the water and onto the lily pad, grinning and looking refreshed the way he always did after a swim. H missed swimming, but it was as if once he’d left the water for the first time, he was never allowed back in—unlike all the other Frogs and Froglets, who made the transition from air to water and back again with ease.

He signed to J that he needed to talk to him later, privately. The Frog supervising them glared at him, but H was used to that. They were discouraged from using their Tadpole-sign now that they were above water—H thought it was mostly because the older Frogs couldn’t understand it—but this was important.

J untucked the edge of the outermost lily pad surreptitiously while the instructor's attention was on H, kicking it hard to send it spinning out into the water. As soon as she turned back to watch the Froglets, she had to deal with the lily pad drifting away from the rest, nudging several of the Froglets underneath and resulting in flailing and splashing.

With a little more privacy, J grinned, hopping around the other side of one of the large pink lilies that bloomed throughout the Pond, waiting for H to follow. "Hi."

H didn’t smile back at him. He was struggling enough to swallow enough air down with his panic. Trying to decide between leading J into ‘seeing’ something that might not even be there and the need to move quickly, he finally settled on, “Do you notice anything different about me?” It was a very intrusive question, quite rude, but J wasn’t nearly as prickly about that sort of thing as most Frogs. Especially not with him. Besides, they didn’t have much time before their teacher came back and they were rushed off to their next lesson. They wouldn’t have any time to themselves until lights out, and then they’d be surrounded by other Froglets who could see and hear everything they said.

J could see that H was upset and he grew more serious. He looked the other Froglet over carefully, not sure what he was looking for. "Your eyes look a little red, did you get hurt?"

H froze. So. He wasn’t just imagining it. It was so noticeable that J had seen it right away. He shook his head.

"Should we... see the medic?" J suggested. "Maybe it'll go away."

“No!” H barely remembered to keep his voice down, but he couldn’t keep his hands from frantically signing a negative as well. “No,” he repeated more levelly. “Maybe it’ll go away, like you said.”

J nodded, seriously. "I'll look again tomorrow." He didn't ask what they would do if it got worse. It would only scare H.

*

It didn’t get better. H watched the redness spread every day, getting closer to the centre of his eyes. It finally got to the point where it was impossible _not_ to notice. The other Froglets realized it soonest, of course, and it only gave them more ammunition in their perpetual war against him. J used himself as a distraction, remarking on the shape of a cloud or how much he loved dragonflies or some other nonsense. H hated it, but he also knew it was probably keeping him alive. He was too small and delicate to fight.

Finally, the redness was so obvious that one of their instructors, who only glanced at each Froglet for a second at a time, couldn’t fail to notice it. He suspected they’d noticed earlier, but had pretended not to so he could do something about it or it went away on its own.

“H! Get to the medic immediately before the whole damn year catches...whatever’s wrong with you!” she snapped before ignoring him again.

The other Froglets snickered and he wanted to die. He waited until their daily swim—he was following her orders, _and_ rebelling at least a little—to go to the medic.

The medic was busy, as usual, and H had to wait for awhile. Finally, the medic called him in as an adult Mod Frog left, limping.

He took one look at H and chuckled. "I was wondering if you were going to change colours," he admitted.

H frowned before remembering he needed to look respectful, or at least neutral. “What? ...I mean, why do you say that, sir?”

The medic began to tidy the infirmary as he spoke, not wasting time speaking to the little Froglet face to face.

"You were one of those yellowish Tadpoles. There were a dozen or so, but I'm guessing the rest didn't survive. You're clearly a different kind of Frog. Every few years the Pond ends up with foreign Tadpoles. Some Frog mutes living on their own sneak their eggs in with ours. Likely to give them a better chance at survival." He shrugged, then gave H an assessing look. "As long as you can keep up with the other Froglets, this colour is nothing to worry about. Your skin will likely change too, like the other Froglets will turn green as they age. You'll always stick out, however." He began to grind something in his mortar and pestle.

Feeling sick, H forced himself to nod. He realized he was nodding at the other Frog’s back. “Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.” He had to choke out the words.

He left without waiting to be dismissed—the medic was clearly busy.

Rather than returning to the lily pad, he crept onto the dormitory roof to think. He’d get demerits, at the very least, if anyone noticed he was gone, but he needed to be alone and think.

He’d always stick out? What a cruel joke his parents had played. They’d cursed him, not given him ‘a better chance at survival.’

His skin would change, too? Change into what? Would he even be green? Would it be something so outrageous, so grotesque that he wouldn’t be able to cover it with a suit and the other frogs wouldn’t be able to ignore it?

He wanted to scream, but he couldn’t. Instead he curled up in a miserable ball and cried. He didn’t mean to fall asleep.

*

J was getting more and more worried when H didn't return. Was he still with the medic? Was he really sick?

He didn't hear any gossip about it, and Frogs liked to talk about who was in the infirmary. Plus if he was really sick, they'd likely quarantine their whole Year. J didn't dare sneak over to the infirmary, so he looked in a few of the spots he liked to go with H when they had a few minutes to sneak away.

He found H sleeping fitfully on the roof of the dormitories, in their usual spot, hidden by one of the windows. He snuck in close, putting a hand over H's mouth before waking him up, to keep him quiet.

Waking up suddenly and finding himself restrained, H lashed out blindly before realizing it was J who’d found him.

“Sorry,” he whispered. It was stupid of him. He shouldn’t have fallen asleep, never mind letting someone get this close without waking up! He was _lucky_ it was J who’d found him, or he might not have woken up at all.

"Are you ok?" J took H's hand in his. They really weren't supposed to touch each other much anymore, but he found it so comforting, found it impossible to resist, at least with H, who let him. "You're not sick?"

H shook his head. He stared at J’s hand but didn’t pull away. It felt...nice. “He said he wasn’t surprised this was happening,” he said, his voice coarse and gravelly from crying and sleep.

"What do you mean?" If he wasn't sick, and he wasn't hurt, why were his eyes changing colour?

“He said...” H couldn’t stop a sniffle from escaping him. “He said I’m a different kind of Frog.”

"Oh!" J slid closer and wrapped one arm around H. "I knew that."

“What?!”

"Most of us have really dark skin, you're yellow." J held out his hand next to H's, comparing the colour of their skin. J was still a very dark green. As a Tadpole his skin had been black. "It's ok."

H slapped J’s hand away. “I know that!” He shook his head again, wildly. “No, it’s not! It won’t ever be!”

J frowned. "It's not just you! K’s different too. There are a couple older Froglets who look different. And I've got bumps on my back, most Froglets don't." He knew it was easier for him, he looked pretty similar to the others, but he didn't want H to feel alone.

H frowned at him, then sighed. He knew J meant well. “Yeah. That’s true,” he reluctantly admitted. He elbowed J in the side. “So you shouldn’t be hanging around with me! I’ll only make it worse for you!”

J elbowed him right back. "We have to stick together. We always have." He squeezed H's hand again. "I don't care if you look different."

“You’re dumb,” H muttered fondly, squeezing back.

"Yeah, I know," J laughed.


End file.
